Poverty and Hope is the Diocese of Rochester's annual fundraising appeal, offering an opportunity for us to express our Christian belief in justice for the poor around the world.
As the Appeal draws to a close for this year, Peter Kettle, volunteer coordinator, offers an update on what has been raised and achieved this year.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Appeal, which closed at the end of April. It has enabled us now to distribute £20,000 through our seven partners linking us with:
- Brazil (CMS)
- Haiti and other Caribbean and Latin American countries (Christian Aid)
- Myanmar (USPG)
- Palestine (Amos Trust)
- Tanzania and Zimbabwe (Companion Diocese of Kondoa, Mpwapwa and Harare).
Visit the Poverty and Hope webpage
Income from donor parishes and individual donations rose by 2.4% to £19,841 in the financial year.
We received donations from almost 40 parishes in the Diocese, with additional funds coming from Gift Aid reclaims from HMRC managed by the Diocesan finance team and online donations by individuals through the Stewardship portal.
During the course of the Appeal year, the international development world has been turned upside down by a combination of wars, natural disasters and drastic reductions in government aid budgets.
Overall needs have increased significantly while funding has declined. A few months ago we reported how Christian Aid’s big “Violence to Peace” project had been hit by the cessation of USAID funding and how Amos Trust’s local partners in the Occupied Palestinian Territories faced escalating disruption to their activities.
In Myanmar, the massive recent earthquake has temporarily disrupted the rural education programme which we support. USPG along with the Church of the Province of Myanmar have launched an emergency response sending emergency humanitarian aid such as food, medicines, clean water to impacted households along with temporary shelter until the restoration can begin.
USPG tells us:
“Once the emergency response phase is complete, we will be sending funds for the rehabilitation phase to restore damaged churches, schools and community infrastructure. Please keep Myanmar in your prayers”.
But everywhere the projects we support are providing help and hope, with unqualified good news coming through.
Irrigation and other farmer and community support projects in Tanzania are working well and expanding in reach.
In the occupied Palestinian West Bank the local groups supported by Amos Trust continue to provide material support to the local population and celebrate Palestinian culture.
The Wi’am Conflict Resolution Centre’s newly constructed community centre is in regular use, and Holy Land Trust is helping several small cultural projects: music in Hebron, circus skills in Nablus and graphic comics in Bethlehem.
In Brazil, our CMS partners Andy and Kati Walsh have made significant progress in their ministry in prisons.
Find out more about the projects
We will be launching the 2025-26 Appeal in September and plan to continue to work with the same partner charities in the same countries.
In the meantime, the Diocese will continue to accept donations and hold them for us until the next round of work begins. Make a donation
Peter Kettle
Poverty and Hope Appeal Coordinator